Vijay Menon

In late February, Harvard and Princeton made an announcement that certainly turned heads among the Saratoga High junior crowd—both schools would be bringing back Early Action starting with the Class of 2012.

Employing a strong defense, the mock trial team savored a verdict of non-guilty culminating in a 250-209 win over Valley Christian on Feb. 2 at the Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse.

2010 was a big year for the Common Application.

After strong showings at the several past league tournaments on both the novice and varsity level, the Saratoga speech and debate team will get a chance to see whether its success in league tournaments can translate into success at some of the more competitive invitational tournaments, including James Logan on Jan. 14-16 and the Stanford Tournament on Feb. 12-14.

Running in the state meet last month, senior Kyle Fukui found himself in an unaccustomed position: in the middle of the pack and struggling to keep pace. “State was amazing,” said Fukui. “I was in the back middle of the pack when I came through the first mile at 5:03. I’ve never experienced a race quite that fast, where I can’t even manage the top half of the group.”

With the first invitational only a month away, the mock trial team is undergoing its final preparations before a busy season of competition begins. In recent weeks, a couple of roster changes have forced some veteran team members to take on added roles. After junior Anoop Galivanche could not participate because of other commitments, several tasks had to be re-assigned.

After going through a season of hard work and success, runners on the boys’ cross country team will see their season coming to an end soon. Looking back, senior co-captain Garrick Chan is pleased with the team’s achievements.

Under the leadership of new head coach Dan Ambrico, the boys’ cross country team has smoothly transitioned into the season as familiar faces continue to dominate on the track. Now, the team is focusing on achieving its goal of making it to the state competition at Woodward Park in Fresno.

After weeks of practice and hard work, the speech and debate team kicked off its regular season with the novice Public Forum tournament at Presentation High on Oct. 10 and the fall league debate tournament at Leland High School on Oct. 17.

After an intense night of tryouts on Sept. 30, the school’s Mock Trial squad determined its preliminary cast. The team features several returning members, along with some new faces who will take on big roles as the team looks to advance this year following several years of disappointing results.

Hundreds of eager runners from various high schools such as Wilcox, Los Althos and Cupertino made their way to the Saratoga High track to participate in the Saratoga Invitational cross country meet on Sept. 21.

For the past several years, the speech and debate team has struggled to establish itself with a solid coaching foundation. As the team prepares for another year of competition, English teacher and head coach Erick Rector hopes that permanent new coaching additions can take the squad to the next level. The club will have the added advantage of having several newly hired coaches to assist the team.

When Kanye West walked out of Radio City Music Hall following the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, he was one of the most hated public figures in America. As the curtains closed on the Nokia Theater capping the 2010 VMA's, the rapper walked off the stage to the admiring and raucous chants of "Kanye, Kanye!"

Regardless of your interest in the 2010 California gubernatorial race, chances are you've heard the name Meg Whitman in some way, shape or form within the last couple of months. Whitman, the former CEO of E-Bay, has inundated the radio and television with ads touting her credentials and encouraging voters to support her campaign for the governorship.

Many children across Santa Clara County were frowning in April when it became the first area in America to ban the sale of toys with unhealthy fast food meals. That's right kids—no more Happy Meals.

Since its inception in 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), former president George W. Bush's controversial brainchild, has brought Washington, D.C., considerable flak from critics who claim that the bill has been ineffective and even detrimental to educational system.

For the casual onlooker, it may seem strange that Kansas-born Sarah Voorhees chose to become a Spanish teacher. Yet for Voorhees, the decision was an obvious one. "I knew I wanted to be a teacher because both of my grandmothers were teachers," said Voorhees. Voorhees grew up in Kansas and her experiences in high school influenced her decision to pursue Spanish. "I just had really good Spanish teachers in high school," said Voorhees. "They always made class fun and interesting.

Upon taking office, President Barack Obama promised to transcend "politics as usual" and reform Washington to promote bipartisanship. After more than a year of his presidency, Obama has fallen short on many of his ambitious campaign promises.

n the interest of reusing test questions in the future, some teachers do not allow students to look their graded tests. As much as this decision benefits these teachers, who are often swamped with tests, homework and projects to grade, it undermines a key component of a good education: self-learning and reflection.

When students enter the weight room, they probably don't realize it was once home to an auto shop class. English teacher Bill Peck, who graduated from the school in 1971, said students used to bring their cars in and they would work on the vehicles all day, fixing mechanical errors and learning a valuable skill in the process. One of the former teachers of this class is current MAP teacher Tony Palma who reintroduced the class as an elective in the late '90s and taught it until it ended in 2003.

In life, there are certain events and tragedies that transcend the bounds of politics and bring people together for a common cause. Without a doubt, the recent devastation in Haiti qualifies as one of these events. Unfortunately, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh seems to be incapable of feeling, choosing to downplay the tragic event throughout his commentary in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

Gilbert Arenas, superstar guard for the Washington Wizards, has always been known around the NBA as a prankster and a character. Fans enjoyed reading his quirky "Agent Zero" blog on the league's website and watching comedic videos of him joking around during practices on YouTube. However, on Christmas Eve 2009, Arenas took the joke too far. After losing a bet to teammate Javaris Crittendon, Arenas reportedly pulled out an unloaded gun stored in his locker intending to make humor of the situation.

Nothing is more humiliating than constantly finishing last in a fantasy sports league and then being forced to deal with the ensuing hazing and ridicule from friends. But for the past six years I have been playing fantasy sports—including everything from the traditional fantasy basketball and football to other more unusual sports including cricket and golf—I have learned some important strategies that will help you avoid embarrassment and win the first place trophy in your league as well as everlasting bragging rights with your friends.

Hundreds of students stormed into UC Berkeley's Wheeler Hall on a mid-November morning and took control of the administrative building, dumping piles of week-old trash, barricading the hall, and ignoring police requests to relinquish control of the building. Using loudspeakers to address the crowd of students and policemen gathering outside the window, protesters angrily voiced their complaints over a recent university announcement that tuition fees would be hiked by 32 percent at the university.

As junior Kyle Fukui crosses the finish line of the 2.95 mile Crystal Springs course Nov. 14, he looked to the scoreboard for his time. Fukui saw he had taken 26th place overall, clocking in at 16:50. The end of the race was the end of a long but rewarding season for Fukui and his teammates as the squad competed in the CCS finals. "I was pleased with the result because I ran a faster time than I ever have before," said Fukui. "Overall, the team had a great race."

A widely circulated YouTube video shows CNN anchor Tony Harris addressing his viewers as International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge takes to the stage to announce the results of the first ballot of voting for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. As Rogge announces that Chicago has been eliminated, Harris collapses into a state of shock.

With a dropout rate exceeding 20 percent in 2008, California's high schools are in a state of disrepair causing school administrators throughout the state to search for a fix to the educational system.

As the season nears its end and CCS looms on the horizon, the Falcons continue to post successful results, but they have also been consistently hampered by setbacks. Lacking any real veteran leadership, the team has had to rely upon its youth to overcome the rigors of a demanding season.

While many teachers feel exhausted after a long and stressful day of work and prefer to just go home and relax, math teacher Audrey Warmuth has a completely different way of recovering following her last class. Ever since she was a teenager, Warmuth has been running and has found the sport to be a source of relaxation. "I always ran around as a kid and then I always did sports in high school," said Warmuth. "I've essentially been running and jogging since the age of 13. It gives me time to just think about things."

If President Obama's continual call for troop surges in Afghanistan and his overseeing of unprecedented Predator drone bombings on impoverished Pakistani farming villages haven't yet convinced doubters that he is deserving of his recently awarded Nobel Peace Prize, then maybe following through on his promise to close the highly criticized Guantanamo Bay Prison might actually convince a few skeptics and show the world that he is actually deserving of the Nobel Prize in his pocket.

The injuries of two varsity runners, freshman David Zarrin and sophomore Lawrence Liang, may prevent the boys' cross country from succeeding in league and CCS meets. Liang is slowed by a back injury while Zarrin has to wear cumbersome knee braces while running. "Unless [Liang and Zarrin] recover from their injuries, we're going to have a hard time placing in CCS," said top runner junior Kyle Fukui.

Since taking to the campaign trail, President Barack Obama has continued to stand steadfastly behind America's policy in Afghanistan, defending it as a "war of necessity." However, in light of recent developments, including the resurgence of the Taliban and the corruption-laden re-election of President Hamid Karzai, it is looking more and more like this "war of necessity" is devolving into Obama's Vietnam.

The recent controversy surrounding President Obama’s proposed health care reform bill has set off a right-wing propaganda mill, generating numerous lies and misconceptions and effectively inundating the public with a flood of misinformation. This fallacy-perpetuating conservative machine  has only served to muddle  the issue at hand, preventing any real and substantial debate from being held over this much needed reform.

Sonia Sotomayor cruised into the Supreme Court by a 68-31 Senate vote this summer, but not without some notable and outspoken dissent from many prominent conservatives. Former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan summed up the general feeling of Sotomayor's oppositon when he stated that she was not "qualified" for the Supreme Court, had not "shown great intellect" or any "depth of knowledge of the Constitution" and was simply an "affirmative action appointment."      

Despite the loss of several key team members and the promotion of former assistant coach Dan Hodgins to head coach, the boys' cross country still has high expectations for a great season. The team’s two strongest runners, alumni Alan Menezes and Kian Banks, graduated last year, a big loss for the team considering the talents the duo brought to the squad. The team will also having to deal with the loss of seniors Kyle Borch and Nick Olsen and sophomore Harry Curtis, who elected not to participate this year.

The speech and debate season came to a close as the team competed in the California State Tournament in Culver City from April 24-26. The club sent three members from a team of over 30 participants—juniors Varun Parmar and Saniha Shankar in Student Congress and sophomore David Mandell in Humorous Interpretation.

For almost any other occupation across the country, good performance, not how many years spent on the job or number of degrees possessed, merits the bonuses or increased pay. The time has come for public education to follow this model as well. Merit pay is a bold idea—within public education—but everywhere else it’s taken as common sense.

For sophomore Robert Yu, the annual NCAA basketball tournament, known to many simply as March Madness, is more than a sporting event—it’s a cause for celebration. “I love watching college basketball,” said Yu. “I watch the games all year just to see how it all breaks down in the tournament.”

The Falcons’ season came to a close on March 24 as the team suffered a 47-36 defeat at Del Mar in the first round of CCS. The loss capped a season of streaky play for the Falcons, who went 11-15 overall and 4-7 in league play. “The CCS loss was a disappointing one for the team,” said coach Trevor Naas. “It is always hard to lose that last game knowing that it puts an end to your season.”

The school will be hosting a real DUI trial with a convicted criminal for the first time at the McAfee Center on Mar. 13.

Ever find yourself stuck at home on a Sunday night spending your time cramming for the upcoming biology test while trying to multitask and finish off a practice write for English? For many students, this is an almost weekly occurrence thanks to the partial block schedule that requires students to attend all classes on Monday. As the school debates the pros and cons of moving to a full block schedule, the time is ripe to finally do away with the unpopular partial block system and solve the “Monday problem.”

The Falcons, who stand 2-5 in league and 9-12 overall, sustained a devastating league loss to Lynbrook at home on Feb. 6 With less than a month left in the regular season, the team has dropped six of its last seven games and fallen to fifth in the El Camino league.

A schedule that would make every day a block day and eliminate the “Monday problem” is under consideration for next year. The proposed schedule, according to assistant principal Brian Safine, would be an A/B system where students would alternate between periods 1, 3, 5 and 7 and periods 2, 4, 6 and 8 on consecutive school days. Some weeks a class would meet three times, while the next week it would meet twice. The periods would continue to be 95 minutes long., and a fourth tutorial would be added to the week.

Maybe it was the free AMC movie tickets, maybe it was the drinks and snacks or maybe it was the ability to “save two lives” that brought a huge group of students to the community commission’s annual Stanford Blood Drive on Jan. 23. The drive was held in the school’s Small Gym from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and was open to juniors and seniors of at least 17 years of age weighing at least 110 pounds. “Overall, I thought the event was pretty successful,” said senior commission member Swupnil Sahai. “We got a lot of people who were willing to donate blood. Over 70 students donated and I was happy to see several teachers getting involved as well.”

Junior guard Daniel Chou hit six three-pointers and senior guard Jamie Turley anchored a stout defensive performance as the host Falcons (8-7 overall, 1-1 league) knocked off rival Los Gatos by a final score of 66-61 in the team’s “biggest win of the year” on Jan. 2. “The guys came out with a lot of energy and played very well,” said coach Trevor Naas. “We shot the ball well from the three-point line and our post players dominated the glass.”

The school will hold its first Challenge Day in two years on March 17. The diversity program challenges students to “become better people” and forces them to address issues such as stereotypes, cliques and tolerance, according to assistant principal Karen Hyde.

Barack Obama’s cabinet choices have received almost universal praise. He has been commended for his decisions to keep secretary of defense Robert Gates in office and for his hiring of a new and improved team of economic advisers to deal with the current crisis. There is one glaring exception, however: his choice of Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. Obama’s choice has been attacked as political appeasement rather than a choice based on talent. While many criticized his controversial choice, his biggest gamble is likely to pay off in the long run.

Students who log into the official school website saratogahigh.org next spring will be in for a surprise—a newly redesigned Saratoga High website. Media Arts teacher Tony Palma, principal Jeff Anderson, tech guru Julie Grenier, and librarian Kevin Heyman have been working with the company Educational Networks to create the new site.

For English teacher Bill Peck, it seems as if all roads lead back to Saratoga. A former student who graduated from here in 1971, Peck now serves as an English teacher and coach of the school’s mock trial team in addition to being involved in the school’s drama department.

Forget playing it sick like Ferris Bueller when you want a day off—when students turn 18 in California schools, they are allowed to excuse their own absences. Under state law, students aged 18 and older have the option to assume all of the responsibilities and powers that are normally charged to the parent as a minor.

In the last weeks of the presidential election, network TV stories on Democratic candidate Barack Obama were 36 percent positive and 29 percent negative; by contrast, coverage of Republican candidate John McCain was a whopping 57 percent negative and 14 percent positive, according to a new study published by the Pew Research Center. This perceived bias has caused many to question whether the media had an unfair influence in this election. The statistics clearly point in this direction. According to a Harvard University analysis, 72 percent of Americans said that the press is politically biased in favor of liberals.

Last year, the city of San Jose arrested 4,661 people for public drunkenness, by far the highest number in California. While these statistics may seem insignificant at first, they highlight a disturbing trend when put in context.

In an effort to make communication easier, the school has implemented a new contact system for this school year called “School Messenger,” which takes the place of the older list serve e-mail. The old system was capable only of sending out messages by e-mail, while the new system will be more convenient for the school. “It’s a lot more user-friendly,” said assistant principal Joe Bosco. “Not only can it be used to send out emails, but text and voice messages as well.”

On Sept. 10, while most Saratogans were just getting into bed, the world’s largest particle accelerator roared to life underneath Geneva, Switzerland. Skeptics thought it might doom the planet, but most scientists saw it for the advance it was.

Walking into the school library this year, students will find a new and improved resource to take advantage of—the newly renovated Research and Writing Center. According to Principal Jeff Anderson, the renovation was funded half by the school and half by the Saratoga High Foundation, a parent group that helps support the school. According to district application support analyst Julianne Yeaman, the old computers were “outdated” and crashed often. There are now 62 new Dell PC’s running on Windows XP in the center.

When students walk into the school’s parking lot, they see a familiar scene of cars and students with backpacks. What they may not realize is that they are being watched over by something unprecedented—video cameras. For the first time at Saratoga High, video cameras are recording what goes on in the front and back parking lot, football field and swimming pool. Administrators said they took this step based on recommendations from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation last year.